Cases of winter vomiting bug are hitting UK homes hard this season with numbers going up by 20% in just two weeks (which is double the pre-Covid numbers)
The stats paint a rough picture: around 3‚7 million britʼs catch this bug yearly while it takes about 200k lives worldwide. But theres some good news - Dr Lucy Thorne from Imperial College London says theyʼre working on the worlds first vaccine‚ though weʼll have to wait till 26 to get it
This nasty bug – known to docs as norovirus – is super-easy to catch: just 20 tiny virus bits can make you sick. To put that in perspective; one teaspoon of infected stuff has enough virus to theoretically infect everyone on Earth. Its really sneaky too – you might not even know youʼve got it but can still pass it to others
Hereʼs what to watch out for if you think you caught it:
* Throwing up (often without warning)
* Stomach pain and cramps
* Diarrhea that comes quick
* Fever and muscle aches
* Sometimes seizures in small kids
Dr Ahmed Albusoda from Princess Grace Hospital suggests eating simple foods if you get sick: “Stay away from dairy stuff and heavy proteins; stick to plain rice toast and bananas“ he explains
The virus spreads through touching dirty surfaces or being near someone whoʼs sick – it can fly up to 9ft through the air when someone throws up (gross but true). Regular soap works better than hand sanitizer; and dont forget to clean everything with bleach-water mix